We were lucky to catch up with Tracey Kennedy recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tracey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love for you to start by sharing your thoughts about the pros and cons of family businesses.

Our business was started by my husband 29 years ago and we’ve been working together ever since. Our key to staying in business and working together is to work out our differences as soon as possible, whether it’s a disagreement with the business or our relationship. We each take personal responsibility for all situations so we don’t play the blame game. We are both on a spiritual pathway of personal and professional growth and that has always helped us a lot. We hire great employees with good work ethics and the ability to be a team player. We respect all vendors, customers, and people in our community and are thankful for the opportunity to be in business. Lastly, we try to make our business creative and fun for everyone.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

My husband, Kevin is a very creative artist and when we got married 29 years ago, he decided to start our business. My background is in education and I was teaching Parks and Recreation at SDSU and several community colleges part time. I started working part time with Kevin a month after he started the business in 11/1993. We are a sign and graphic business and started by painting large inflatable balloons for many years. Kevin had previously worked in sign businesses and had his own so it seemed easy to add this service to our existing new business. As the business grew over the years, so did the technology. Initially, all art work and signs were hand painted and screen printed. With the advent of computers, plotters, large format printers, and more, we went from having 15 airbrush artists to currently five graphic production artists and a lot of machines to produce the products we sell–banners, signs, vehicle graphics, ADA signs, printed products, and design services.

I started from the ground up in our business learning the skill and craft of airbrushing and hand painting inflatables and signs. Eventually, I got more involved in the business side of our business with administration, HR, bookkeeping, and then handling most of the sales. My background in education allowed me to learn how to listen to client needs and problem solve what would best work for their business needs within the budget they have. One of the biggest compliments we receive all the time, is how good our communication is with customers and our fast turnaround time for production. In a male dominated business, many women and men appreciate working with a woman in the sign business. We’ve never been the cheapest or the most expensive but have always provided the best value for our clients.

Kevin and I decided long ago that we would always give back to the community and have donated thousands of dollars of signs and banners to various nonprofits and educational organizations as well as offering discounts. We stand behind our work which isn’t always easy as every product we sell is custom made.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I’ve been working in our business for almost 30 years. Prior and during working in our business, I have had over 40 other jobs, many for several years. When younger, I worked at a variety of jobs to pay bills and for my college education such as a car wash attendant, cashier, and waitressing. As a waitress, I learned how to think fast on my feet, make customers have a great experience, and communicate with all types of people, even when they were hangry from waiting in a nice restaurant for a table. My masters degree in education taught me how to learn and convey information as a professor for over 15 years. All of the skill sets I’ve learned have helped me to embrace how to sell and understand a business I wasn’t familiar with and also to develop as a professional business owner. We’ve weathered, bankruptcy, recessions, and most recently COVID always coming out ahead due to taking positive action in perilous times.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

We have used a variety of advertising methods over many years and have kept track of where new business comes from. A strong website presence has been worthwhile for some new clients and is an important way for people to find out who and what your business is. By far, the best way we have grown our business is by networking. Kevin and I have belonged to several networking organizations for over 20 years; BNI, Le Tip, and Business to Business Connection. We have met and interacted with business professionals and owners who have referred business to us because they know and trust us. We’ve been members of several chamber of commerces and have served on the board of professional business organizations. We donate in kind services and products to local charity events and golf tournaments. We have always tried to be supportive of the nonprofits in our community and sponsor and attend events to help their causes. We’ve developed a good reputation for being honest, creative, and supportive of our community.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.attentiongetters.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/attentiongetters/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AttentionGetters/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2093128/admin/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgu0-DTO868
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/attention-getters-design-el-cajon-2

Image Credits
Attention Getters Design, Inc.